Cowboys’ vs Chargers week 2

current record 0-1

By Mark A Halpern

Last week we saw the Cowboys take on the defending Champs and lose not by a landslide but by 2 points. The Cowboy’s offense played very well together, even though the running game was nonexistent. The offense moved the ball well and only committed one turnover, which was on a tipped pass. The defense is another story altogether. They looked like the same defense from last year, giving up tons of passing yards. The bright sides were that they were able to control the run and forced three turnovers. Now, this week’s challenge comes in the form of the Chargers, which anyone will tell you won’t be an easy win unless their defense shows up.

    Going into this week, the Cowboys have lost three main starters for this week’s game. La’el Collins, who is a strong point on the offensive line, will miss the next 5 games due to failing the abusive substance law with the NFL. While it was never said that he was using the product, he is being punished for missing the testing process.  Michael Gallup, one of the fastest Wide Receivers on the team, will miss the next three weeks with a calf strain. The Cowboys put him on the 3-week IR for now. The offense needs him but, Cedric Wilson and Noah Brown will fill in for him and are capable receivers. For now, look for Cee Dee Lamb and Blake Jarwin’s targets to go up over the next few weeks. Demarcus “Tank” Lawrence broke his foot this past Wednesday, and is his timetable is unclear now. This is a massive loss to a defensive line that is trying to rebuild itself. Mailk Hooker on the other hand is ready to make his Cowboy’s debut and is set to be a real “Ball Hawk.”

      Like every team in the NFL, covid testing is a priority. Randy Gregory had tested positive but is awaiting his second test result to see if it was a false positive so he can join the Cowboys to play against the Chargers. This is just a big blow to the offense and defense with the various injuries. The Chargers are an explosive passing team and have competent runners. I can see the Chargers exploiting this weakness and run the ball more, unlike they did against Washington, and even if you stop the run, they have dynamic receivers.

     For the Cowboys to win this week, one thing has to emerge from the smoldering ashes from last week: the running game. Zeke rushed the ball 11 times for 33 yards last week. He must have at least 15-20 carries and Pollard to have at least nine for this offense to work. Play-action is an essential part of this offense, and if they don’t get the run game going, the Chargers will not fall for it. Dak Prescott must be the same quarterback as he was last week and spread the ball around. Cooper and Lamb will be the featured receivers, and it is possible for both to have 100-yard games and at least 1 touchdown each. I expect Zeke to have 80-120 yards on the ground, a few receptions, and a total of 2 touchdowns. 

     This Cowboys offense can outperform anyone they face, but the defense will have to stop one of the top 10 quarterbacks in the league, Justin Herbert. Herbert showed off his talents against a stingy Washington defense, and if the secondary plays like it did last week, the game will be a hard fight and might force Dak into throwing 50 passes again. The Cowboys also signed a placekicker to the practice squad, putting Greg Zuerlein on notice that he will be benched if he keeps missing kicks. I see him having a much better game this week.

      I look for a more balanced attack this week, and controlling the ball and the time of the game will be much better. The prediction of the week is the Cowboys 24 to 17 over the chargers.

Jacksonville Jaguars Week 2 Pre-Game

By: Noah Trombley

The Jacksonville Jaguars will look to bounce back this week as they take on the Denver Broncos in Jacksonville. This matchup is a very huge test for this young Jacksonville team as they are not only playing their first home game this year but are also coming off that atrocious week 1 performance against the Houston Texans. 

The main thing to look at in this matchup is the play calling and schemes from head coach Urban Meyer. After last week with all the illegal shifts and illegal formation penalties the team is going to have to clean that up and either simplify the playbook or understand it better to not make these mistakes happen. The dropped passes also need to be cleaned up by coaching, there were over 5 dropped passes last week by good receivers and that can’t happen against an offense that showed last week that they can put points on the board. The Jaguars need to also focus on getting the run game going in order to take some of the pressure off of Trevor Lawrence to make plays and force the ball into coverages. The Jaguars only had 76 yards of rushing last week between Carlos Hyde and James Robinson, 44 and 25 yards respectively. The Jaguars cannot afford to become a one dimensional team and need to open up the run game in order to start running some play action and some other schemes in order to really let this offense go. 

Looking back on this brief history of this series the Jaguars actually have the edge so far in head to head matchups, 6 wins to 5 losses. As far as key matchups during the game to look at will be when the Jaguars offense faces a relentless pass rush from the Denver Broncos. This offensive line is gonna have to deal with the pass rushing abilities of Von Miller and Bradley Chubb who have shown they can get to the quarterback whenever they please so the offensive line needs to protect their future in Trevor Lawrence and make sure he has time to throw. 

Giants vs Washington Thursday Night Recap

By Jeff Knapp

Thursday night, the New York Giants (0-1) traveled to Landover, Maryland, to take on the Washington Football Team (0-1). There were many questions going into this game. How was Saguon Barkley going to perform? How many touches was he going to get? How would the offensive line hold up against two premier defensive linemen in Montez Sweat and Chase Young? Was the Giants’ defensive front going to get pressure on Taylor Heinicke? All of those burning questions were no bigger than this one: How was Daniel Jones going to perform?

The game started out like a ball of fire for the Giants. They got Washington to punt the ball on their first two possessions and were able to go 79 yards on 11 plays on their first drive topped off by a Daniel Jones 6-yard TD run.

During this amazing back and forth game, the Giants were up by six with just over four minutes left. New York gave up the lead when Washington scored a touchdown in 17 seconds with about four minutes to go. With Big Blue down by one and just over two minutes left, James Bradberry came up with a fantastic interception at the Washington 25. Even with WFT using two of their timeouts, the Giants only chewed up 16 seconds on the clock and walked away with a field goal.

Washington was down by two with nine seconds left and went for a 48-yard field goal. The field goal was missed…WIDE RIGHT! Not so fast, Dexter Lawrence, who had just one tackle the entire game, was called for offsides. Now Washington tries for a 43-yard attempt, and the kick is successful. WFT won the game by one point, and that was truly heartbreaking for the G-Men.

New York had every opportunity to win the game. A holding penalty cost Daniel Jones a second rushing touchdown, and Darius Slayton dropped another beautiful pass in the end zone late in the game. Not saying it was easy, but that’s a catch an NFL receiver needs to make in that situation.

Good Notes from Thursday’s Matchup:

1) This was the best game Daniel Jones has played. 22/32 for 249 yards, one passing, and a rushing touchdown. He also ran for 95 yards. 

2) Sterling Shepard was brilliant once again, catching 9 of his 10 targets and 95 yards.

3) Although the offensive line gave up four sacks, this was the best I’ve seen them play of late. 

4) Graham Gano is Mr. Automatic

5) NO FUMBLES!

6) On defense, Blake Martinez is a tackling machine, and given the pressure they brought early in the game, this is very satisfying. 

Bad Notes from Thursday’s Matchup:

1) Saquon Barkley, outside of his 41-yard run, only had another 16 yards in him and was only targeted three times out of the backfield. Hopefully, this doesn’t last, and he’s warming up to be what he can be. Troy Aikman pointed out during the broadcast that players coming off major surgery don’t feel back until the following season.

2) The defense had early pressure and then lost all of it after the first quarter. It seemed like Heinicke threw the ball to Terry McLaurin 175 times, although he caught 11 or his 14 targets for 107 yards and one touchdown. They also gave up big crucial plays throughout the night to Antonio Gibson and J.D. McKissic. Who combined for 162 total yards and a touchdown.

3) Penalties killed the Giants. Big Blue had a total of 11 penalties for 81 yards. There was a holding penalty that cost them an incredible touchdown run, two back-to-back false starts that possibly cost a chance at a 7-point lead, and the killer offsides call that allowed Dustin Hopkins to retry a game-winning field goal that he just missed.

New York needs to clean up its act and build on Daniel Jones’ confidence before next week’s home game against the Atlanta Falcons.

Can Bills Rebound and Make Tua Fish

By Lawrence Lang

Week one for the Buffalo Bills saw them jump out to a 10-0 lead over the Pittsburgh Steelers to end up losing control of the game and end up losing 23-16. Pressing forward to week 2, the Bills look to rebound and forget week one as they travel down Miami to face division rival the Miami Dolphins. The last time these two teams faced each other, it ended in a route for the Bills as they beat the Dolphins 56-26 at home.

Now looking at week 2 for the Bills is can they stop Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa again as they did in week 17 last year, where they could intercept Tagovailoa three times. This Bills Defence can do it again if they can learn from their week one mistake against the Steelers. If they can bring pressure in the pocket, they can stop Tagovailoa in what he does best: escape and try and either get the pass play going or getting his feet going and running with the ball. Also, on the flip side of the offense, if quarterback Josh Allen can bring in the deep ball game along with his short passing game, he can get through this Dolphins defense. One key factor for the Bills in Sunday’s game will be Devin Singletary. The game will be a homecoming for Singletary. He was born in Fort Lauderdale and went to college at Florida Atlantic, so bittersweet monument for Singletary as he returns home. He had 72 yards rushing last week in the season opener.

The Dolphins come into week two as the only team to win in the AFC East. They beat and spoiled the Debut of Mac Jones as they beat the New England Patriots 17-16 in a game that came down to the end. Tagovailoa was impressive, going 16/27 202 yards going one and one with a touchdown and Interception. Jaylen Waddle got his first career touchdown caught a three-yard pass to help the Dolphins extend their lead over the Pats. He would finish the game with 61 receiving yards. The key to victory for the Dolphins was their defense, causing fumbles and recovering two of them. If they can repeat this, the Bills could have a tough time running the ball and throwing it.

Will Allen has a few tricks up his leave. Only time will tell to see what 258 million dollar man has in store. This is a game to watch and could be one of the games of the week, especially with Allen and Tagovailoa going at it. This is the future; we are watching two young quarterbacks trying to bring some life back to their teams and bring them to the promised land. So far, they are taking the proper steps in doing that.

The Bills will look to get their sixth straight win against the Dolphins on Sunday kickoff is slated for 1 PM with weather up in the high 80’s to low 90’s.

Is it time to take the backup tag off of Heinicke?

By Dan Ryans

WASHINGTON–The Washington Football Team needed to win on Thursday night, and they got it. But what they needed the most was peace of mind at quarterback. Yes, this player has some flaws and needs to clean up some issues early in the game. However, from the two starts, we have seen from Taylor Heinicke in a Washington uniform, it is clear that the backup QB tag must be removed from him. 

On Thursday, Heinicke completed 34 of 46 passes (73.91% on completions) for 336 yards and two touchdowns. With this performance, there were two statement drives, both occurring in the fourth quarter. The first statement drive started with under five minutes left in the game. Washington was down by six, and the drive’s first play was a beautiful strike from Heinicke to J.D. McKissic, who took it downfield for a huge 56-yard gain. Washington finished the drive on the next play, which was a nice throw to Ricky Seals-Jones at the corner of the end zone. The second statement drive came with about a minute left in the game. New York had retaken the lead, and WFT needed a field goal to win the game. In a series aided by Giants penalties on defense, short passes to Logan Thomas, Adam Humphries, and Terry McLaurin got Washington into field goal range. WFT successfully completed the drive with a game-winning 43-yard field goal by kicker Dustin Hopkins. Those two big scoring drives clearly showed a bounce-back performance for Heinicke after a tough start to the season.

Here are some of the Washington players speaking highly of the quarterback after the game:

Chase Young: “He came in last year and showed he can sling it. You just give him camp with the whole team and all these practices…we have all trust in 4, and we’re on his side.”

J.D. McKissic: “You’re looking at a team who has 100 percent confidence in their quarterback, we’re 100 percent behind him, we truly believe we could win with him, and I think he’s shown that time and time again.”

Terry McLaurin: “He’s always ready for his moment, and I love guys who are always ready for their moment, always prepared. He doesn’t complain about the reps that he gets in practice; even when he wasn’t the starter, he just makes the most of his opportunities. That’s all you can ask for…”

It’s over! Taylor Heinicke is QB1 moving forward, and nothing except a terrible injury (knock on wood) should take that away from him. The team and the fans love his style of play and trust him to lead Washington to victory.

Desert Duel

By: Mike Rifkin

On Sunday the Arizona Cardinals will have their home opener as they prepare to face the Minnesota Vikings. The Cardinals are coming off one of the most impressive week 1 victories in the NFL as they defeated the Titans 38-13. Quarterback Kyler Murray had 289 yards passing and four touchdowns, while adding 20 yards and a touchdown on the ground. Receivers Deandre Hopkins and Christain Kirk each had 2 touchdowns receiving. Defensively Chandler Jones returned to the lineup with authority after missing most of 2020 with a Biceps injury, the star pass rusher had five sacks of Ryan Tannehill. One of the major issues the Vikings have had over the years is protecting quarterback Kirk Cousins, so watch for Jones, JJ Watt and Zaven Collins, this year’s first round pick to have an impact on this game. But the defense as a whole had a great day containing running back Derrick Henry to 58 yards and receivers AJ Brown and Julio Jones to a combined 78 yards and a touchdown on 7 catches. Defense also forced three turnovers. 

Minnesota is coming off an overtime loss to the Cincinnati Bengals 27-24. In that game quarterback Kirk Cousins threw for 351 yards and two touchdowns, but was sacked three times. For the second straight week the Cardinals defense will be tasked with stopping an elite group of skilled position players. Running back Dalvin Cook who had a big fumble last week also had 61 yards and a touchdown. In 2020 Cook ran for 1,557 yards and 16 touchdowns. Adam Thielen and Justin Jefferson are one of the best receiving duos in the league last week Thielen had 92 yards and two touchdowns, Jefferson had 71 yards. In his rookie season Jefferson had 1,400 yards and seven touchdowns. We will have to see if Vance Joseph’s defense can stop an elite offense. This game will also feature the return of Patrick Peterson to Arizona. The Cardinals drafted Peterson fifth overall in 2011 and he did not disappoint in his 9 seasons in Arizona racking up 499 tackles, 28 interceptions and four punt return touchdowns. 

I know it’s week two but this is a big game for the Cardinals for a few reasons. The Cardinals have the opportunity to put the Vikings at 0-2 and in case they both are chasing a wild card spot gives the Cardinals a head to head advantage. Another reason is to keep the momentum going from the Titans game, last season the Cardinals started 2-0 but lost a home game to Detroit. This will be the first time the Cardinals and Vikings have played each other since 2018 a 27-17 Minnesota victory. Will the Cards fly high in their home opener or will the Vikings spoil it.

Lamar Vs Mahomes Round 4

By: Mike Rifkin

Sunday Night Football will feature a heavyweight fight in the AFC as the two time reigning conference champion Kansas City Chiefs travel to Baltimore to play the Ravens. It will be the fourth time in their careers that quarterbacks Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson were going head to head with Mahomes and the Chiefs winning all three previous meetings. 

The Chiefs are coming off a week 1 victory over the Cleveland Browns 33-29. In that game Mahomes threw for 337 yards and three touchdowns through the air and added one on the ground. Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce combined for all three touchdowns through the air including a 75 yard touchdown from Mahomes to Hill. On the flip side the Ravens are coming off a 33-27 loss to the Raiders on Monday night. Lamar Jackson threw for 235 yards and a touchdown, but had two costly fumbles as the Ravens lost in overtime. The Ravens will be without cornerback  Chris Westry with a torn meniscus, he played 33 snaps against the Raiders on Monday night. Baltimore’s secondary will also be without former Chief Marcus Peters who is out for the season with a torn ACL. Another injury concern for the Ravens offense is left tackle Ronnie Stanley is battling an ankle injury, so be very curious if he can go on Sunday. The Ravens traded his backup Orlando Brown to the Chiefs in the offseason so Baltimore’s line is in a bit of shambles. Baltimore will have a former Chief on offense receiver Sammy Watkins who had four catches for 96 yards in his Baltimore debut. In three seasons with the Chiefs Watkins had 129 catches for 1,613 yards and eight touchdowns. 

In the three prior meetings Lamar Jackson has completed 52.6% of his passes for 511 yards and three touchdowns, he also has been sacked three times. Lamar has added 196 yards and a touchdown vs the Chief defense. Mahomes against Baltimore has completed 70.5% of his passes for 1,136 yards, nine touchdowns and an interception. 

Entering Sunday Mahomes is undefeated as the Chiefs quarterback in September and against Baltimore. This will be a difficult task as Baltimore doesn’t want to start 0-2, so this anticipated heavyweight fight should be a dandy on Sunday night.

Week 2: WFT vs. NY Giants

By Dan Ryans

WASHINGTON–Thursday is finally here. The Washington Football Team is ready for a quick turnaround as they take on the New York Giants in a critical Thursday night matchup at home. With Washington already in a massive hole after its season-opening loss to the Chargers on Sunday, this game could dictate how the season will go for the team. 

Besides Sunday’s loss, there are many questions about the quarterback situation with the burgundy and gold after the injury to QB Ryan Fitzpatrick. Washington knew the risks that came with bringing in the 38-year-old veteran. Let’s be honest; it wasn’t necessarily a great signing for a team trying to build off of last year’s playoff appearance. While the term Fitz Magic has been associated with short-lived runs of excellent football he has given his last eight teams, it didn’t mean that Fitzpatrick would bring instant success to Washington. He has only led teams to two winning seasons and never made the playoffs. Now he’s out with a hip injury. Given the fact that Fitzy has elected not to have surgery on the hip subluxation, it can take several weeks, maybe the whole season, to heal. Taylor Heinicke now slides into the QB1 spot, and he also has a lot to prove. Playing two and a half quarters of football on Sunday and completing 11 of 15 passes for 122 yards and throwing one touchdown is good, but it will not win you many games. With his style of play and confidence to lead the squad, Heinicke already has teammates who trust him and will do everything they can to rally around him on Thursday. 

Washington, however, should have no problem beating a New York team that was dreadful in last week’s defeat against Denver. All Coach Ron Rivera needs to do is develop a game plan that utilizes the skills and strengths of Taylor Heinicke, the offense, and the defense. WFT has to be better on both sides of the ball. In the defense’s case, it’s all about containing QB Daniel Jones. He seems to have the best success against this Washington team, including an excellent performance in Week 6 of last season when Jones carried the ball seven times for 74 yards. Daniel Jones can run, but his fellow teammates in blue have a lot of trouble protecting him as he was sacked twice in Sunday’s game. Jones also has issues with ball security, given his 30 career fumbles. So Washington’s game plan is to pound the Giants offensive line and contain Daniel Jones. That, along with minimal penalties and a good game from Taylor Heinicke and the offense, should give you a nice win on a short week. As Coach Rivera told his team as they gathered last week, “One less mistake. That’s the difference in this football game. One less mistake, alright? That’s the truth of the matter.”

Covid and the Saints

By Mark Halpern

     Yesterday I found out that six, count it six different assistant coaches on the New Orleans Saints tested positive for the Covid virus. I would be angrier if they weren’t vaccinated, but they all were; however, the people they must have been around were not. The people around the ones who gave it to them could have been vaccinated, but at least some of the people they were in contact with most likely weren’t.

    How does this affect the Saints? Well, they must have regular daily testing to ensure their tier 1 and tier 2 players do not test positive, and we will find out today if any of the main starters have contracted it. This could be a massive problem for a football team because they would have to go on the covid list and be out for 14 days, and that could start as soon as today. Can you picture a football team having to raid their practice squad and sign as many free agents as they need to play? You might as well call them the replacements for now. According to head coach Sean Payton, most of the coaches who contracted the virus were not around many players. This can be reassuring, but if one player isn’t vaccinated, it can spread fast, like spreading cream cheese on a bagel. SO now the Saints are in full covid protocol this week. This means masks on full time; the team will have grab-and-go lunches and must be separated, and for the next few days, all players and coaches have to be tested. For a team to function correctly and prepare for what’s coming up this weekend, they need to practice as a team. If shit like this keeps happening, it’s going to be a rough season.

        As of right now, all teams are above the mandatory 85% vaccination expectancy. That’s still not 100%, and again I understand it’s an individuals right to get the vaccine or not, but in the case of playing on a major sporting team, there should be no excuse, especially with how this virus spreads, and that is how the old man sees it.

Round 5 to Mahomes The Run game Kept Browns Going

By Lawrence Lang

In Round five of the Baker Mayfield Patrick Mahomes rivalry, Mahomes would come away with the victory and lead the Kansas City Chiefs to their first win of the season of the Cleveland Browns 33-29. Mayfield would go 21/28 321 yards passing and one interception for the quarterbacks, while Mahomes went 27/36 337 yards, passing three touchdowns and zero interceptions.

On the bright side, one thing that looked good for the Browns was the run game, especially against a great defense in the Chiefs. They accumulated 153 yards rushing as a team. Nick Chubb at 15 carries for 83 yards and two touchdowns and one fumble, Kareem Hunt would have six careers for 33 yards and one touchdown, and even Jarvis Landry joined in on the fun with two careers for 13 yards and one touchdown.

Looking at the Browns receiving side, they could rack up the yards with 321 total yards. The top receiving leaders were David Njoku 76 yards, Jarvis Landry 71 yards, and Anthony Schwartz 69 yards. The only thing missing from the Browns receiving was the end zone; hence they turned to the run game.

The Chiefs were the opposite as they turned to the receiving game to get it in the endzone, but the rushing game still helped them win this week. Clyde Edwards-Helaire led the way with 14 carries for 43 yards, and Mahomes had five carries for 18 yards and one touchdown. On the receiving end, Tyreek Hill had 11 receptions for 197 yards and one touchdown, and Travis Kelce had six receptions for 76 yards and two touchdowns.

In the end, this was a great Sunday afternoon game that saw the game go back and forth. It’s just that the Browns had one foul play, and that came down when Mayfield threw the interception with 1:40 left in the fourth quarter that sealed the game for the Chiefs. Obsolvey a few things the Browns need to work on heading into week 2, one being their defense. Granted, this is a hard one to call in that they faced their Chiefs opening week, but 33 points are still 33 points, which means things need to be worked on. Besides getting the ball in the end zone on the run game, they need to find a way to get the ball in the end zone on the receiving end. If defenses figure out the run end of things near the endzone, you will be kicking field goals all seasons, and they might help win games, but they won’t help win them all. The Browns will look to rebound in week 2 in their home opener against the Tennessee Titans at 1 PM.